Just Some Ranting

Sorry I haven't written in a while. My schedule makes my life feel like it's the last few weeks of the semester during the entire semester. Every waking moment is devoted to prepping, teaching or grading. Man I need to learn to say no.

On the bright side, there are only three students that I already hate but an entire class is on the way to that distinction. I don't know what it is about Western Civ I classes. Every semester now it seems I get one class full of idiots. Not all the students are idiots, mind you, but a good majority of them are. They aren't stupid but it's clear that they don't want to be in class and that they are in college just to appease mom and dad. These are the type of students who do the minimal amount of work and expect to get A's. Namely, they are a professor's nightmare. I have to put up with their lame attempts at "work," babysit them for the three hours that I have them, and then explain to them why they did not pass my class at the end of the semester. I literally dread going to that class. I'm just thankful that I have classes before and after that are great.

My online course training has started. Since I already do classes where the students get all their handouts and do assignments online the first part of this training will be easy. However, my department head strongly suggested that I teach the online class as an overload in the spring. Remember, I'm just a lowly lecturer who should spend her time lecturing. Ya, bite me.

Poor Bear is really the one suffering through this Semester From Hell. I promised him I would focus my schoolwork to weekdays so we could spend more quality time together. He has been really understanding since my schedule wasn't really voluntary. At least I get four weeks off for winter break this time around so I can then spend some quality time with him.

And how 'bout the economy? Damn. Even this crap makes my life seem peaceful. Makes me glad I didn't invest money with companies like Lehman Brothers. I've been watching this nightmare since Bear Sterns was bought out last year with historian's eyes. You know that old saying that "history repeats itself"? When you are a historian, this shit can scare the crap out of you. As good ole G.W. was saying "the country's not in a recession" I was thinking "oh fuck." As the mortgage crisis continued to worsen, I knew the outcome wouldn't be good. A couple of weeks ago I really started to wonder what the government was going to do. Banks failing is never a good thing and I started to think about the Great Depression.

Will this $700 billion bailout prevent us from slipping from a recession into a depression? Only time will tell. Part of me wants to smack Bush upside the head since he's bowing down to big money. Think about it: the investors took huge risks in order to gain really big profits. By bailing these fools out we're telling them that the lower- and middle-classes are willing to pay for their fuck ups. At the same time, I'm afraid that if the government does nothing, more banks will fail and that would be even worse. Either way folks, those of us who don't have millions of dollars to spend are fucked 'cause we're going to foot the bill for all those idiots.

And since the liberal in me has been outed, how 'bout that Palin chick, eh? Man, she scares the bejeezus out of me. It's like the Stepford Wife on crack. What don't I like about her? Let me count the ways...

1. I never trust a politician who is a hypocrite. Yes, all politicians are liars. It comes with the territory. However, I truly hate politicians who do one thing and then deny they are doing it. Case in point: Bridge to Nowhere. She supported both of them (yes there are two) and loved the federal money coming in. It wasn't until the federal money ran dry that she went against it. She is still saying she never supported it.
   
2. I never trust anybody who attempts to ban books. OK, so it was a "hypothetical" conversation with the Wasalla librarian. Working as a librarian I would never, ever attempt to ban a book or even "hypothetically" talk about banning books. Every person and society that has attempted to ban books usually has something they are trying to hide, and usually that's a really bad thing.
3. No war is ever "Ordained by God." Unless we are living in ancient Sumeria where they believed that their gods wanted glory for war, this doesn't work. Most of the country is of the Judeo-Christian and Islamic variety who believe in the same God. Last time I checked, he was a nice god who didn't believe in violence and said "love thy neighbor." Oh, and also, aren't we losing that war? If this war was "ordained by God", wouldn't we have won it a long time ago?
4. Separation of Church and State. Boy do I love that section of the Constitution and I believe it is part of what makes our country great. It allows everybody to worship whatever the hell they want to. You're a Catholic? Cool. You're a Buddhist? Cool. You're a Wiccan? Cool. Hell, if you're an atheist it's cool. Palin is Pentacostal, which I have no problem with. However, she plans on using her religious ideas to alter domestic policy. She is clearly pro-life, pro prayer in school, believes that creationism should be taught alongside evolution, is against stem cell research on religious grounds, and against gay civil unions and/or marriage. I do not believe that the beliefs of a few should impact society as a whole. While these ideas may swing in some parts of the country, I know they won't here in the northeast. Heck, New Jersey is one of the few states to recognize civil unions and I'm damn proud of our government for taking that action. If they want to be against it in Alaska, they can do it there, but I do not want it to be national policy.
5. SHE MADE RAPE VICTIMS PAY FOR THEIR OWN RAPE KITS. That is just so fucking wrong on so many levels.
6. She is in the pockets of big oil. Come on, at the RNC people were chanting "drill baby drill." Drilling for oil is not the answer (and no, Alaska does not provide 20% of the energy to the U.S., another clear lie. It's more like 3.5% according to FactCheck.org). We all know that our oil reserves are running out. Take the initiative and find other sources for fuel. Who would benefit drilling in Alaska? Not me. There isn't enough oil in that state to significantly reduce the cost of gas. All it will do it make more profits for big oil and we all know how I feel about that.
7. She supports loyalty even if it means putting people in office who have no freaking clue what they are doing. Ya that's nice and all but our country has already suffered from that. Can't remember? Nixon did that and look how that ended up.
8. She thinks I'll vote for her because I'm a woman. How dumb do you think I am? Ah, never mind.
   

Honestly, I can go on and on and on. Now, you may disagree with me all you want and I will respect that if you're making an educated decision. As Voltaire once said "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too."

Ah, I've ranted enough. Time to get back to lesson preps.